PUSD Board Approves 151 Potential Staff Cuts Amid Post-Fire Recovery Concerns

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education voted 6-1 Thursday night to approve the elimination of approximately 151 full-time equivalent positions for the 2025-2026 school year, including 117.6 certificated staff and 34 classified positions, despite emotional pleas from teachers and parents still recovering from the devastating Eaton Fire.

District officials said these preliminary notices must be issued by March 15 under California Education Code requirements and final layoff determinations made by May 15. Based on historical patterns, the actual number of layoffs is likely to be lower after accounting for vacant positions, retirements, and internal reassignments. Last year, PUSD initially proposed 196 position cuts but finalized only about 90 layoffs.

“We deeply appreciate our staff’s dedication and recognize the impact of this decision,” Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco said in a statement after the meeting.

Blanco defended the cuts as necessary for the district’s long-term stability: “We’re going to continue to look for mental health money, and we have a goal of, if we can at all, restoring people’s positions like we did last year. That’s what we want to do… but right now we have to take the necessary steps to have the District’s fiscal health for the future.”

The layoffs target a wide range of teaching positions, with the largest reductions affecting 57.5 Teachers on Special Assignment, including instructional coaches, EL coaches, and RTI wellness positions, along with 23 elementary/middle school teachers. The classified reductions include clinical social workers, instructional aides, and various specialist roles.

Michael Fine, Chief Executive Officer of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, told the board that PUSD’s budget challenges predated the Eaton Fire.

“Your challenges pre-fire have to be met. They will continue out in the coming years. Fire or not, the state will hold your revenue, your local control funding formula, revenue, harmless for the near term,” Fine said.

The meeting featured passionate testimony from numerous educators, including Dr. Zeudi Bernardo, who currently serves as the President of the Pasadena Association of Career Technical Educators, the collective bargaining unit for Career Technical Education teachers in the Pasadena Unified School District

“Teacher salaries are barely 30% of the district’s entire budget. So cutting 10% of us means that you’re only saving 3% overall on the entire budget. You have a whole other whopping 70% of the budget to look at and to make cuts to,” she argued.

Many speakers emphasized the poor timing of the layoffs following the Eaton Fire disaster.

One teacher who described herself as “almost seven months pregnant,” said, “It does not require a triple major, two master’s degrees and almost a PhD to know that I am likely going to be laid off with a baby on the way.”

Multiple board members expressed that while painful, the cuts were necessary for fiscal stability.

“Nobody runs for office to eliminate jobs and to make these kinds of difficult decisions,” Board Member Patrice Marshall McKenzie said. “If there were other avenues available to us, other options available to us, we would be doing anything.”

The district faces ongoing fiscal challenges, including enrollment declines of 1,650 students since 2018 and the expiration of approximately $20 million in annual COVID relief funds.

According to Saman Bravo-Karimi, the District’s Chief Business Officer,  even with these reductions, additional cuts will likely be necessary in future years to address projected budget deficits.

Several board members rejected an amendment proposed by Trustee Tina Fredericks to preserve 22 RTI wellness positions at schools, which failed 2-5. Fredericks argued that preserving mental health support was especially critical following the fire: “We don’t need this severe cut right now.”

Student board representative Terra Bondsmith, a junior at John Muir High School , conveyed the Student Assembly’s opposition to the cuts: “From a student’s perspective, teachers are our role models and our support and they’re what is really important to us. So on behalf of the student assembly, our vote is no.”

In a statement issued after the meeting, Superintendent Blanco emphasized that the district remains committed to providing a high-quality education despite the reductions: “Our priority remains providing a high-quality education for every student. With the continued support of our community, we will navigate these challenges and build a stronger future for Pasadena Unified.”